A.N: Here comes the first chapter of the year! Sorry it took so long, but I finished one of my other stories. Anyway, I have many new ideas for this year, and I might start a new story soon, which means slower updates for this one. Some of my ideas can be found from my profile. Go check them and tell me your favorite.
Chapter 21: Devil's Drug
A man in black suit walked along the hallway, followed by a blonde haired boy, Sabo, Luffy's older brother.
"How's the testing of the Hie Hie Drug processing?" the man asked, turning around a corner with Sabo right behind him.
"All well so far; I'd say Kuzan's laziness is our biggest problem with it right now" Sabo told the man. His name was Monkey D. Dragon, father of Monkey D. Luffy and son of Monkey D. Garp. Dragon chuckled, glancing at his employee, asking: "You don't have much faith on him, do you?"
"Actually, I do" Sabo corrected "But I also know that he's lazy as hell."
"We all have our faults" Dragon stated "Although his is a real problem for my company."
"Ever thought of kicking him out?" Sabo asked as they rounded another corner, making Dragon nod.
"Many times" he said "But good test subjects are rather hard to find."
"You should call them employees" Sabo said, sweat dropping.
"They're testing my drugs, so they're test subjects" Dragon said with a grin, making Sabo sweat drop.
"I still don't get it why you named them "Devil's Drugs"; it gives the company a bad imago." he said, but Dragon ignored him. They had a long day ahead.
XXXXX
"Tuesdays are hell~" Kuzan, a man in his late forties complained, hitting his head on his desk.
"Every day at work is hell to you" answered Borsalino, a man in his early fifties. They were both working for Dragon and, despite their lazy attitudes, were one of his bests. They did paperwork and tested some of the drugs, including the Hie Hie Drug. Now you're probably wondering why does the main character's father own a company that makes drugs, aren't you? Well let me explain: the devil's drugs are no ordinary drugs. You see, they give their user unordinary abilities, like changing in to animals or having your body all slippery. They were invented by Dragon's scientist friend, Ivankow, ten years ago and now they had their own, well selling company. It had taken Dragon quite a while to convince the government that these drugs were safe and would be well tested before released to the market. The devil's drug wasn't the most convincing name, but that's what they ended up using. Currently there were three types: zoan, paramecia and logia. Zoan type drugs, the ones that allowed their user to turn in to an animal, were the most common ones. There were few paramecia types in market, but most of them were still being tested. Logia type on the other hand gave their user a power over elements and let their whole body change in to one. However, only few outside the company knew about the latest type. The effect of the drug lasted from 1 to 24 hours; depending on how well one's body could take it. Because of this there were often complaints from the customers, but they always came back since they couldn't get the drugs from anywhere else. One can only take one drug at a time, and it came with a troublesome downside: when the drug was affecting its user couldn't swim. These drugs were also pretty expensive, which meant only richer people had the chances of using them at the moment, not to mention to learn to control them since you couldn't just learn it in few hours. Actually, learning how to control the powers from the drugs had become one of the favorite pastimes of the rich people. So, I suppose you now know how the Devil's Drugs work, don't you? Good.
"That's because work is hell" Kuzan told, not lifting his head from the table.
"Then why don't you resign?" Dragon asked as he walked in to the room with Sabo.
"Too troublesome" Sabo rolled his eyes, asking: "How's the testing of Hie Hie Drug going?"
Kuzan lifted his head from the table, answering by turning in to ice.
"Like this" he said.
"I see you have finally mastered it; we might be able to show it to the public soon" Dragon said "And the Pika Pika Drug?"
"Well enough" Borsalino answered "The effect wore of an hour ago tough, so I'm taking a break."
"I see" Dragon said "And where's Robin?"
"Training grounds; working on the Hana Hana Drug again" Borsalino said "I don't understand why she bothers; it's already under her control and in the market."
"She just wants to improve it" Sabo said, sitting down "Can't blame her; it's her favorite after all."
"Speaking of which, what's your favorite?" Borsalino asked, but Sabo just shook his head.
"I don't really use them" he said "I tested a few, but... well..."
"No matter what type it was Sabo's body always rejected them; wouldn't last more than an hour" Kuzan finished with a lazy smirk, earning a glare.
"Tough luck" Borsalino said.
"I don't mind; they aren't really my thing" Sabo said, turning his attention to the table in front of him. The downside was that he was one of the people who got the most of the paperwork...
XXXXX
Nami sighed while walking back home. Luffy had been bothering her all day, after every class and in the lunch break.
"He really wants me to go with him, huh..." Nami thought. She had already decided to go with them, but she wouldn't say it just like that. But she was wondering how long she'd be able to handle Luffy before she snapped...
"What was that?" she thought, stopping as she heard a crash from the nearby park. She hid behind a tree, seeing Luffy, Ace and the principal in there.
"What in the world are they doing?" she wondered despite knowing it wasn't any of her business. She was nosy by nature. Her eyes widened as she saw Garp hit Luffy on the head and kick Ace to the ground. Should she call a police? The principal was a violent psychopath!
"You crazy old geezer!" Ace yelled.
"That's not a way to talk to your grandpa!" Garp yelled back "Now quit whining and attack, you sissies!
Nami blinked. Their grandpa? Well that would explain some things, like why Luffy seemed to be scared of him, but how come she hadn't heard of it?
"Maybe the others don't know" she realized "After all, they don't know about Ace and Luffy being brothers either."
Nami smirked, deciding to continue her way back home. She'd seen enough; this'd be good blackmailing material if needed.
A.N: So yeah, about the drug thing... someone, don't remember who, said it'd be nice if I'd take the devil fruits in to the story and I thought that no way, I don't want anything supernatural in here! But when I started to think what kind of company Dragon should have I came up with the drug idea, so here we are. I just hope it didn't ruin the story completely.